The National Commission for Women (NCW) in collaboration with the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) organized a one-day seminar on anti-human trafficking awareness in the national capital on Saturday.

The one-day awareness session discussed the introduction, concept, patterns and existing response systems of human trafficking and the psycho-sociological impact of trafficking as well as the role of civil society organizations in its prevention. NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma and Balaji Srivastava, Director General, BPR&D presided over the seminar.

Chairperson Rekha Sharma stressed the importance of preventing human trafficking at the source for effective combat. “We have to focus on the prevention of trafficking. NCW has set up its own Anti-Human Trafficking Cell and this is just the beginning. Through today’s seminar, we all have to find the way forward in promoting awareness around human trafficking and its effective combat,” she said.

Meanwhile, Balaji Srivastava said that BPR&D has been organizing many seminars and capacity-building workshops on different topics such as cybercrime, and women’s security and this collaborative effort with NCW would go a long way in promoting awareness around human trafficking.

The seminar was divided into four technical sessions; ‘Introduction: Concept, Patterns and Existing Response Systems of Human Trafficking’, ‘Different Dimensions of Human Trafficking’, ‘Psycho Sociological Impact of Trafficking’ and ‘Role of NGOs in Rescue, Post Rescue Care and Rehabilitation’.

The technical sessions were followed by detailed open house discussions and the resource persons suggested the way forward for combating human trafficking.

Some of the important suggestions made by the experts were that every State Commission for Women must have an Anti-Human Trafficking Cell of its own, an SOP for all the organizations to follow in cases of human trafficking, joint training of all the stakeholders, setting up Anti-human trafficking cells in colleges and educational institutes. provisions available in the legal system including schemes and compensation should be known to everyone at the panchayat level, among other suggestions.

The participants comprised State Women Commissions, WCD departments of States/UTs, senior police officials, senior officials from paramilitary forces, government organizations, National Commissions, Administrative, Judiciary and Police Training Institutes, Non-Governmental Organizations, Directors of Medical Institutions, and Universities/Colleges, among others.